Tadej Pogačar has set a new record of 35 minutes and 27 seconds up Alpe d’Huez on stage 19 of the Tour de France, after questions were raised about the health of the champion’s UAE Team Emirates XRG teammates.
Pogačar attacked on the first of Alpe d’Huez’s 21 bends and quickly began to claw back time on the breakaway, which included Sepp Kuss and Richard Carapaz, who won stage 18 and had hoped to claim king of the mountain points.
After his attack, Pogačar quickly met his teammate Adam Yates who had dropped back from the breakaway. Yates had suffered from a virus earlier in the week, but plugged away and helped set the pace for Pogačar.
With 9.5km to go, Pogačar left Yates and continued to chase to the lead group, which continued to pick up the pace knowing the defending champion was closing down the gap.
Only Lenny Martinez could stick with Carapaz’s brief attack with 8.5km to go, but Kuss managed to get back to the duo as the three began to work together.
Carapaz launched a second attack before Kuss unleashed a counter and the trio came back together once again.
Despite their efforts, Pogačar was in formidable form. The defending champion was quickly passing riders on the road and reducing the gap to Carapaz, Kuss and Martinez, as he headed through the thick crowds.
The break had 3 minutes 25 seconds over Pogačar at the start of the climb. But with 5.6km to go, the gap had dwindled to just 1 minute and 1km later it was down to 34 seconds.
Carapaz and Kuss’s attacks, and the surge in pace made it look as if the lead group would stay away.
Yet, with 4km to go, Pogačar could see the leading trio up the road, and it became only a matter of time before the Slovenian would catch them.
Pogačar eventually passed Kuss and Martinez, who managed to stay on the Slovenian’s wheel, leaving only Carapaz in front. Pogačar caught the EF Education Easy-Post rider with 1.6km to go as the games began for the stage win.
Pogačar looked as if he couldn’t shake Carapaz and Martinez, but within the last kilometre he attacked and left the two riders for dust, claiming the stage and setting a new record on one of the Tour’s most iconic climbs.
That record of 35 minutes and 27 seconds smashes the previous record, which had stood for nearly three decades. It was back in 1997 that Marco Pantani set a time of 37 minutes and 35 seconds.
Pantani set his record when the official Alpe d’Huez climb was slightly longer at 14.5km, whereas today it measures 13.8km.
